Marina Bay with Suntec City and National Stadium and Kallang in the background.

10/29/2008

Paying for nothing

You pay for a car you get a car. You pay for dental treatment, you get dental treatment. You pay for a massage you get a massage. You pay to a hospital to be healed. You die in hospital or your illness did not improve, you still pay. Is this fair?
Why admit to a hospital to be healed but die instead and still need to pay hundreds of thousands or tens of thousands? Did the hospital fulfil its part of the contract, to heal or at least return you alive?

17 comments:

Hi Redbean, I guess there is no guarantee that you will be healed when you admit yourself to the hospital. Doctors will do their best but you have to trust them for that. It will also depend on the severity of your illness.

there are cases where cure is a bit of touch and go. i will refer to two specific cases. one reported in the media that because the patient was kept in ICU and then die, the cost came to $600k, if i can remember. another case of a guy complaining of discomfort in urethra or urination problem and went in for test. you don't expect this guy to die. he died and was billed something like $70k.

basically the hospital charged the all the cost incurred to the patient, without batting an eyelid. talking about a discount is distasteful.

but this kind of unbridled commercialism is even worst. i am not going to think of a better compromise. i am not in the profession and neither am i being paid to do such a thing. i just feel that things are not right.

just read glen knights reply in tan kin lian's blog on the fee the would charge for representing one person in the minibond suit. his charge is $80k but if he lost, assuming it takes 4 days, he will charge only $40k.

No one, not even insurance companies can guarantee LIFE. If anyone or any organisation tells you that they can, they are flat-out lying to you.

The reason is that DEATH is inevitable for all of us. If there is an illness, even a slight one, the odds of dying increase (depending of course on the medical condition).

The stakeholders of the hospital (staff, owners, etc) provide services: health and healing services, with the goal of enhancing and saving human life.

But since we are all going to die, there is no way they can guarantee and outcome. The best they can do is do their best, and judging from the quality of medical care in S'pore — those good folks do a fantastic job.

I will (and have) gladly paid them for their services. Even if I croak.

'If the hospital were to let the patient know in advance, many will die before being wheeled in'

That's the beauty of it. If patients die before being wheeled in, the hospital makes nothing. So, better give a low estimate, wheeled them in, and whack them hard, by arguing that complications crop up that were not foreseen. Aiyoh, every trade has it tricks lah!

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